Hung Up A Mirror In Bathroom, Concerned I Might Have Screwed Into A Pipe

[warpus 0]

What the title says. And please forgive me, I'm not a DIY expert, so a lot of this will be written using greenhorn expected terminology..

Me and my dad were putting up a mirror in my 1st level bathroom. We were screwing these metal things that screws go into, into the wall, and when one of them went in we encountered a bit of resistance. My dad stuck in a screwdriver and poked around and determined that it was wood. He took a screw and pushed it in a bit (no hammer), then put in the metal part we were screwing it initially and screwed it in. Near the end of this we heard a loud CRACK

Now, this could have very well been the edge of a piece of wood.. but there is a bathroom upstairs, meaning there's pipes running through the walls, which divert the water to the sewers (I'm guessing, anyway).

I went into the laundry room, right underneath this bathroom. There is a plastic pipe running up, at maybe right around the spot where we drilled the hole.. but right before it hits the ceiling it goes "into" the wall so it's hard to see if it continues going up or if it takes a different route.

The upstairs bathroom's sink is at a different wall than the bathroom below, but under the sink you can see that the pipe goes in that direction.

We have no idea how to check if we split a pipe open or not. My dad claims that he was sure that it was wood.. because it "felt" like wood. And it's not that I don't trust him, but it would really suck if it was a water pipe, cause then I'd end up with thousands of dollars worth of water damage.

Tomorrow I'm going to stop by my neighbours. I live in a duplex - her apartment is basically a mirror copy of mine - save a couple minor details.. The thing is that her basement isn't finished (mine is), so I should be able to see the direction of the pipes with a bit more detail. I'm not sure if it's going to help but I might as well try.

My dad also says that it's unlikely that they would have ran plastic water pipes right behind the sink of another bathroom - where mirrors usually go up. He said "that'd be stupid", but.. yeah, I don't buy that. The people who put up houses rush everything and I can see them not caring about a detail like that. ANd then the mirror that used to be there was glued onto the wall.. Mind you, it wasn't a type you could screw in, but.. maybe that's why they ended up going with one like that? Or do they usually do that cause it's easier?

So what do you guys think? The metal piece we were screwing in wasn't that sharp, so I'm not even sure that it's possible that it'd go into a plastic pipe.. but before we screwed it in, my dad used a sharper screw to make an incision in the "wood".

What options do I have? I don't have blueprints for the house.. Are there any tests I can run to determine if there's a plastic pipe there and if we've ruptured it? I don't really want to cut a hole in the wall just to check, that seems like overkill.

Please give me some feedback so that I can go to sleep without this bothering me.

[battle 0]

Generally water pipe is either copper or Stainless steel. so if really break, water will burst out. so if nothing of that sort. don't worry.

But if its plastic pipe, it should be sewage, carrying waste water, it should have a little smell + some times things might craw out. So best to have it repair.

Ay, think it might be plastic pipe carrying electrical wire ?

But if its really wood (possible), it might be some form of construction method that they need to use plywood behind.

Anyway, my personal view for reference onlyy ; )

[ben263 0]

Hi...

Need to know if it's a concrete wall or mdf wall?

If concrete, then take a small chisal and hammer to hack off at least a 2 inch square.

then you'll see what is inside....

if it's water, then water will immediately leak.....

In water cases, you'll have to buy epoxy putty to fill it in....

Make sure that the main water pipes have no more water if not you'll have a hard time filling it....

If it's others, then use stopping to fill off the hole... total time taken will be around 2 hours...

What the title says. And please forgive me, I'm not a DIY expert, so a lot of this will be written using greenhorn expected terminology..

Me and my dad were putting up a mirror in my 1st level bathroom. We were screwing these metal things that screws go into, into the wall, and when one of them went in we encountered a bit of resistance. My dad stuck in a screwdriver and poked around and determined that it was wood. He took a screw and pushed it in a bit (no hammer), then put in the metal part we were screwing it initially and screwed it in. Near the end of this we heard a loud CRACK

Now, this could have very well been the edge of a piece of wood.. but there is a bathroom upstairs, meaning there's pipes running through the walls, which divert the water to the sewers (I'm guessing, anyway).

I went into the laundry room, right underneath this bathroom. There is a plastic pipe running up, at maybe right around the spot where we drilled the hole.. but right before it hits the ceiling it goes "into" the wall so it's hard to see if it continues going up or if it takes a different route.

The upstairs bathroom's sink is at a different wall than the bathroom below, but under the sink you can see that the pipe goes in that direction.

We have no idea how to check if we split a pipe open or not. My dad claims that he was sure that it was wood.. because it "felt" like wood. And it's not that I don't trust him, but it would really suck if it was a water pipe, cause then I'd end up with thousands of dollars worth of water damage.

Tomorrow I'm going to stop by my neighbours. I live in a duplex - her apartment is basically a mirror copy of mine - save a couple minor details.. The thing is that her basement isn't finished (mine is), so I should be able to see the direction of the pipes with a bit more detail. I'm not sure if it's going to help but I might as well try.

My dad also says that it's unlikely that they would have ran plastic water pipes right behind the sink of another bathroom - where mirrors usually go up. He said "that'd be stupid", but.. yeah, I don't buy that. The people who put up houses rush everything and I can see them not caring about a detail like that. ANd then the mirror that used to be there was glued onto the wall.. Mind you, it wasn't a type you could screw in, but.. maybe that's why they ended up going with one like that? Or do they usually do that cause it's easier?

So what do you guys think? The metal piece we were screwing in wasn't that sharp, so I'm not even sure that it's possible that it'd go into a plastic pipe.. but before we screwed it in, my dad used a sharper screw to make an incision in the "wood".

What options do I have? I don't have blueprints for the house.. Are there any tests I can run to determine if there's a plastic pipe there and if we've ruptured it? I don't really want to cut a hole in the wall just to check, that seems like overkill.

Please give me some feedback so that I can go to sleep without this bothering me.

[ibelieveindevil 0]

ok, seriouesly i dont understand much of your metal thing and other terms and nothing about the current condition of ur house. what u can do fir us, is to at least post a few pictures of the conditions and items so we can help to see it better